“We normally associate acting dishonestly with causing harm to others, but it’s also quite possible that a dishonest act can help someone, […]. Under what conditions we’re prone to act dishonestly to hurt or help another is what a new study in the journal Psychological Science investigated.” Read more . . .

“The big problem with health care reform, as Surowiecki sees it, is that its proponents framed the reform as an attempt to cut costs. This framing automatically invoked the loss aversion biases of the general public. It didn’t help that reform opponents latched on to the bias and have milked it for all its worth.” Read more . . .

“Three recent papers from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology combine to tell an interesting tale: We fundamentally care about outcomes, but have rule morality to keep powerful folks from doing bad things to the rest of us. This is of course not a new idea, but new data offers new support.” Read more . . .

“In 1985 Stasser and Titus published the best sort of psychology study. Not only does it shine a new light on how groups communicate and make decisions, it also surprises, confuses and intrigues. Oddly, the results first look as if they can’t be right, then later it seems obvious they are right, then attention turns to what can be done about it.” Read more . . .

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For previous installments of “Situationism on the Blogosphere,” click here.